Center for Science in the Public Interest
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is a consumer organization which undertakes research and advocacy programs, as well as provides consumers with information about health and well-being.
In 2010, they won a class-action suit against Coca-Cola, to have their misleading statements regarding Vitamin Water removed.[1]
Their three main goals are:
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[edit] Food restriction advocacy
CSPI sees certain food ingredients as harmful, at least in the quantities that they're consumed in the developed world. They advocate government limits on those food ingredients. The three food items they seek limits on most fervently are:
- salt;[2]
- sugary drinks, for which they advocate a tax;[3][4] and
- trans fat, for which they seek an outright ban.[5]
CSPI's stance on trans fat represents a reversal of their position from the early 1990s. Before evidence of trans fat's unhealthfulness became available, CSPI advocated replacing the lard and tallow used for frying in fast food restaurants with partially hydrogenated oils, on the grounds of lowering the American intake of saturated fats.[6]
CSPI has also petitioned the U.S. FDA to ban synthetic food dyes.[7] They have no problem, though, with natural food colorings like annatto and paprika. The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) disagrees with this position, saying that artificial food dyes are banned in some European countries because of "a poorly conceived study that examined mixtures of additives, and then asked parents to evaluate their children’s behavior."[8][9] (Actually, the European Union didn't ban artificial food dyes, it merely imposed a requirement that foods containing them carry the warning: "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.")
Other food items CSPI has opposed include:
- aspartame[10]
- nitrites[11]
- caramel color[12]
- azodicarbonamide[13], FoodBabe's infamous yoga mat chemical
[edit] External links
- CSPI Homepage
- CSPI scam, a site critical of CSPI, run by people with just as big of an axe to grind as CSPI themselves
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Vitamin water isn't healthy, rules Federal judge
- ↑ Salt: The Forgotten Killer
- ↑ "Taxing Soda Could Trim State Deficits (and Waistlines), Says Report". 2010-04-01. http://www.cspinet.org/new/200909301.html.
- ↑ Whether they'll expand their advocacy to a tax on all added sugars, in light of this May 2013 CDC press release which states that "Foods contributed 67% of calories from added sugars compared with 33% from beverages" in adults, remains to be seen.
- ↑ http://www.cspinet.org/transfat/about.html
- ↑ Networks Ignore CSPI's Hypocrisy in Trans Fat Controversy, Mike Ciandella's blog
- ↑ http://www.cspinet.org/fooddyes/
- ↑ Mac and Cheese food dyes article at ACSH.org
- ↑ The study in question: Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial, The Lancet, vol. 370 issue 9598, 3-9 Nov 2007, pp. 1560–1567
- ↑ FDA Should Reconsider Aspartame Cancer Risk, Say Experts
- ↑ Chemical Cuisine: Learn about Food Additives
- ↑ FDA Urged to Prohibit Carcinogenic "Caramel Coloring"
- ↑ FDA Should Ban Azodicarbonamide, Says CSPI